Earlier this summer, Nottinghamshire announced the signing of Gloucestershire all-rounder Will Gidman on a three-year deal ahead of the 2015 season.
He spoke to All Out Cricket ahead of his move to Trent Bridge this winter:
Opta recently revealed that Will Gidman is part of a very exclusive club of allrounders. Alongside names such as WG Grace, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee, Gidman is one of only 19 players to have scored in excess of 1,000 Championship runs at an average above 35 and taken 100+ wickets at an average below 25.
It’s no wonder then that support for him is gently swelling, with a modest but vociferous ‘Gidman for England’ social media campaign gaining momentum among county cricket aficionados. But are the England selectors listening?
On numbers alone he’d be selected for the Test team in a heartbeat; a sub-22 bowling average and 38-plus batting average marking him out as statistically the best allrounder in the county game. But it’s not easy to get noticed when you’re toiling away at Bristol in the second tier of the Championship and, as Gidman himself concedes, bowling at not much above 80mph and accumulating runs without fuss or flourish.
Gidman’s not a man for self-promotion either, taking a little cajoling before agreeing to talk to us for a feature in which we’d be pointing out just how good he is. So if he won’t do it, we’ll have to: in a number’s based game, Gidman’s astonishing stats surely have to count for something? Don’t they?
A lot of county fans will know of your performances but might not have seen you in the flesh. How would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
I’m a medium-pace bowler who tries to nibble it around a little bit and be as economical as I can and hope that brings me some wickets. As a batter, I’m a nudger and nurdler, really. I try and keep my game as simple as possible and scratch out a few runs.
You didn’t make your Championship debut until you were 26. What had your career path been up to that point and why did it take you so long to make an impression?
It’s pretty simple, really. My first four years of professional cricket were up at Durham and it just so happened to coincide with the strongest era in the club’s history, in the pace department particularly. I didn’t get the playing time I would have liked, in Championship cricket anyway, but it was still very nice to be a part of it. I learned a lot from Ottis Gibson, Callum Thorp, Mark Davies, Graham Onions – there were so many big names there. I’m not bitter about that at all. I was unfortunate in one sense but at the same time very lucky to be a part of the club at that time.
Did you think about moving on sooner to play first-team cricket?
Yes, naturally, but I was enjoying my time so much there – being around these legends – then I broke into the one-day team in my third year and that brought some exciting times which put those thoughts to one side for a while. It was about halfway through my fourth year at the club it hit home that if I wanted to play Championship cricket then I’d have to move away from Durham.
How does it feel to hear your name alongside the likes of WG Grace, Hadlee and Imran Khan in these stats from Opta?
It’s very humbling. I’m quite hard on myself and whilst I’m over the moon I’m on that list, I also appreciate that I’ve played 50-odd games and they played many more. If you were to ask me again in five years when I’ve got 150 games under my belt, if I’m still at the same sort of level then I’ll be chuffed to bits! For the moment it’s just a case of making sure I maintain the standards I’ve set in the early part of my career.
Are you confident you could keep up that level of performance in Division One of the Championship?
Yeah, I’m confident, you’ve got to be confident. I’m not saying that I’m going to but if you do take on that challenge of going up a division, you’ve got to back yourself. Having said that, it’s important that you stay realistic and appreciate that it’d be a tough transition. There is a difference between the two divisions, I think most players recognise that.
Are you aware of the ‘Gidman for England’ Twitter campaign?
I’m aware of it, but I don’t really know what to do with it! It’s very flattering but I certainly won’t be getting involved in it. I’ll be keeping my head down and trying to play as well as I can and do my talking on the pitch. It is very nice and flattering though!
But you must accept that the kind of performances you’re putting in will inevitably lead to talk of an England call-up?
I suppose so. I’m very fortunate to have had a bit of success and I’ve got some half-decent stats behind me and with that you’re naturally going to get guys in the pub saying that I should be doing this or that. I haven’t made the step up yet and I’m sure there are good reasons for that. I’ll continue to work hard to try and tick off whatever boxes have not been ticked and hope that one day I can take that next step.
Do you think the fact that you’re – in your own words – “medium-pace” is part of the reason you haven’t been called up?
I do, and understandably so. This is international cricket. You’re talking about playing against the best batters in the world. Guys of my pace, if we get it slightly wrong then we are going to go the distance against that standard of batting on good pitches. The likes of Tim Murtagh and myself would argue that what we lack in pace we try very hard to make up for in accuracy but I can understand why at international level they look for bowlers of a certain height and pace, because ultimately you need those sort of natural abilities at that level.
This interview appeared in issue 119 of All Out Cricket magazine. You can subscribe to the digital edition here.